News October 2007

29 October 2007 : Dublin Marathon, Lacy fights back the years
 
Colchester Harriers Dave Lacy ran his 14th Dublin marathon and showed that his 64 years are not hampering his running with a fine time of 3-35 to finish 1350th out of 12000 finishers in this popular event. Lacy nursing two hernias refused to give in as biting cold winds made the going tough. Although now a long way away from his 2-28 best his talent even in his final running years still shines through. David Wrights 4th attempt to bust the 3 hour barrier here ended in dissapointment with 3-07 and 364th place the outcome.  Rachel Richardson-Wright ran well in the Dublin breakfast run despite a heavy cold.

 

Jack Fryer of Colchester Harriers ran a fine Seven sisters marathon beating the 4 hour barrier on this very tough off road marathon. The hills of  the Sisters and Beachy Head took some hard running by Fryer to keep on course for the final 3-56 time to finish in a fine 55th position. Also running was Les Dunham who negotiated the hills with caution and clocked 5-23 a pleasing result over tough terrain.

 

 

Ideal conditions greeted the runners taking part in the popular local 5 mile road race at Wix near Harwich. Colchester Harriers took advantage of the conditions to post a number of PBs and to dominate the front of the race. Two athletes, Chris Sellens, and Jon Nears, whose undoubted potential has often been hampered by stomach problems, managed to control their pre-race nerves to set new personal bests and gain a one – two for the green vests. Despite both having trained hard the previous day, they were always in the leading group. Sellens maintained a swift pace and moved away from half way to finish in first position in a time of 27.13, whilst Nears came through to second position later on and stopped the clock at 27.45. This should give them both confidence that their training is moving in the right direction and they can overcome their previous problems. Completing the wining team was Rob Gibby, overcoming his recent calf injury to break the 30 minute barrier convincingly with 29.23 in 6th.
Arthur Whiston ran well in 31.48 to finish 2nd in the M50 category and 25th overall. 4 places further back Dan Wright made his second appearance for the club in 32.10. Malcolm Statham ran 33.23 for 39th.
Following her excellent run the previous week at the Essex League cross country, Emily Bowen once again competed well against some good local opposition for 6th woman in 33.55. Jane Steele ran 38.29 in 88th and was 7th F35.
The amazing 79 year old Peter Thomas who still trains and races regularly finished in 47.30 with over 20 other runners still behind him.

 

 

50       01:08:54                Hill    John          Colchester Harriers A.C.        V40    47      M     
63       01:11:12                Marsh   Patrick   Colchester Harriers A.C.        V40    41      M     
65       01:11:15                Dowell  Melissa  Colchester Harriers A.C.        V35    42      F     
142     01:19:07                Aurighi Simone  Colchester Harriers A.C.                   31      M     
184     01:23:49                Lane    Rob         Colchester Harriers A.C.                   30      M     
200     01:25:41                Helliwell   Fay    Colchester Harriers A.C.        V35     36      F     
259     01:34:01                Clark   Fiona      Colchester Harriers A.C.        V45     45      F     
300     01:41:57                Thomas  Peter    Colchester Harriers A.C.        V60    79      M     

 

 

It was great to see a large turnout for the first Essex League meeting at Stubbers. We had 4 winners during the day -
The mens team
Adrian - first man
Paul - first V40
Fran - first V45
It would be even better if next time we could field some junior scoring teams. Its only 4 to score, and there is more enjoyment to be had from being part of a scoring team. Lets keep the momentum going for the next one - details below
 
Saturday 3rd November at One Tree Hill, near Stanford Le Hope
12.00 U13 Girls  3k
12.20 U13 Boys  3k
12.40 U15 Girls  4.3k
13.00 U15 Boys  4.3k
13.20 U17/20 Women  4.3k
13.40 U17 Men/Sen Women  7.3k
14.00 Sen Men  8.6k
 
There is no changing nor showers, and only limited toilets!
Part of the course is on gravel tracks which aren't really suitable for spikes.
 
See you there.
 
Peter

 

13 October 2007 : BRIGHT START FOR HARRIERS’ CROSS COUNTRY - results.xls
Bright and very warm conditions marked the first Essex League cross country league meeting of the season, and the results and turnout for Colchester Harriers were also bright!
The ‘Indian Summer’ weather meant that there were large fields, and the quality was high too. In the men’s race there were 150 starters, featuring many past winners, but Adrian Mussett dismissed the best that the rest of Essex could offer, and straight from the start went ahead of his rivals. He hadn’t raced during the summer, but is now able to train consistently and increase his mileage, regaining him both the strength and speed which saw him dominate in Essex in the past. At the end of the unusually long race of about 10k he had a margin of 41 seconds over the second athlete, and almost a minute over a Great Britain Junior athlete in third!
Harriers also supplied the V40 winner, with Paul Spowage finishing in 14th overall, showing a remarkably quick recovery from injury after only 4 weeks of training. Despite a fast start he was able to maintain his effort throughout the race, and kept comfortably ahead of team mate and second vet, Peter West. The last of three laps saw West, Allen Smalls, and Sean Ketteridge, swapping places as they battled for team points, and club pecking order, resulting in strong packing of 19th, 20th and 21st positions respectively. The latter two performances were made impressive by the fact of Smalls having completed a 50 miles race a week earlier, and Ketteridge not having trained because of bad ankles.
Essex League debutant Jon Nears made his first appearance for the club as a first claim athlete and performed very well first time out for 26th to complete the scoring team of 6. The total of 101 points was easily good enough to see Harriers victorious in the Men’s section.
Encouragingly there was depth to the team too, with 14 men running for the club.
Once again suffering from digestive problems Chris Sellens still finished in 33rd, with Colin Lewin right behind in 34th, only a week after coming 4th veteran in a European long course triathlon. Now almost in the V50 category David Wright ran strongly for 47th. Two newcomers to the Essex League had a ‘baptism of fire’ finding out how good the quality is, with Leigh Barrenger in 72nd and Dan Wright in 92nd. V40 Michael West had a solid run in 85th, with V50 John Driscoll pleased to break the ton in 96th. Coach Paul Barrett brought up the rear with 109th from 143 finishers.
Harriers’ women also had an encouraging turnout, with 8 starting, but unfortunately 2 dropped out. The top three were all new to Essex League, the ever smiling Emily Bowen ran strongly to work her way through to 17th, very closely followed by Charlotte Smith only 2 seconds behind in 19th. Only a year ago Smith was in the Harriers ‘Race For Life’ training group, so she has made impressive progress in a short time. V35 Kate Sandercock did well in 23rd, and in 25th Fran Norriss was first V45 in her usual relaxed style, and completed the scoring team for a 6th position. Having trained on the track Sarah Sheppard struggled with the distance in 34th, and finally starting to recover from respiratory problems Faye Helliwell was 57th.
Ella Neale has concentrated on speed during the summer, so she found the long race in the U17 section difficult, but still managed 15th.
After good consistent showings in last years U13 league, Kirsty Straiton a good 12th, and Miranda Hastings in 23rd, picked up where they left off, to renew their rivalry. Their previous team mate Annabelle Abbott had the extra challenge of this year moving up an age group to the U15 girls, where she finished in 22nd suffering slightly from asthma.
It was pleasing to see the boys competing in the Essex League this year too. In the U15’s Julian Pennycock ran well for 15th, accompanied by Dan Harrup in 42nd, whilst in the U13’s Tom Buttery had a good run for 17th, backed up by Simon Underwood in 36th.
The next meeting is at One Tree Hill on 3rd November, where it must be hoped the momentum of results and club spirit created at this match can be continued.

 

6 October 2007 : Long Myndd 50, Harriers Smalls is number one in Britain 
Colchester Harriers Allen Smalls odyssy to win the Montrail off road ultra series finally ended on the beautiful wooded hills of Shropshire with a  joint second position in the Long Myndd 50 mile to take the overall series and become the the first Southerner to take the title.
Smalls was pushed all the way by the only runner who could still overtake Smalls to the title. With Smalls holding a slender few minutes lead going into the event his tactics were to stick close to his adversary. This saw a painful first 20 miles where Smalls clung on to him with difficulty, finally he broke at 23 miles and Smalls followed him over the Shropshire hills which boasted 8000 ft of ascent for the next 27 miles, before finally crossing the line together in a tremendous time of 8 hours 10 minutes, the winner clocked a new course record of 7 hours 51 minutes.
Smalls is one of the most respected of the long distance fraternity, and all runners will be pleased to hear of his success in winning the title which has taken him to Scotland , Wales, and the Isle of Man in his quest to be the champion of distance running. Long Mynd results
 
Manwendon 10km, West on fire again 
Well respected Colchester Harrier captain Pete West showed that being a veteran has not slowed this talented runner down with a fine win at the tough Manwendon 10km. West followed team mate Andy Kerton for 2 kms before bursting through the chasing group to take a good lead at half way which he never lost. West who won numerous county road championships this year will be aiming to repeat the feat in the next 12 months. Final time for West was 35-50 with Kerton a fine third in 36-26 and David Wright now pushing 50 clocking 37-05 in 6th position. Rachel Richardson-Wright showed an improvement in form to run her best 10km this year.
 
Harwich Discovery 10km and 5km, Best ever for Moore 
Melanie Moore of Colchester Harriers showed a vast improvement in her times with a 10km run of 48-17 at the Harwich 10km, Moores personal best was her firat time under 50 minutes and she was joined in this feat by Jane Steele who also ran 48-17. Sandy McMillian is coming on in leaps and bounds clocking 41-25, with Richard Steele close by in 42-21. David Moore ran 48-28 another best ever time, while debut man Mark Loeffler passed the line in  46-39. The 5km event saw Patrick Marsh finish 6th overall in 20-23 his higheat ever racr finish.
 
Southend 10km, Gibby injury blow 
Rob Gibbys recent good form including a win at the Wakes Colne 10km went into reverse when a groin injury saw him lose vital ground in the firat 2km's of The Sothend 10km to finish in a dissapointing 39-30.